released on November 8th through Columbia/RPM/Legacy via Barnes and Noble retail, BN.com, and tonybennett.com

14-time Grammy Award®-winning Columbia Records artist Tony Bennett turns his attention to his timeless catalog of Christmas recordings and personally picks 18 of his favorites – including one brand new, previously unreleased tune, “What Child Is This” – for THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM. The new collection will be available everywhere starting October 11th through Columbia/RPM/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTER­TAINMENT.

THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM will contain the new Ultimate Access Pass that allows a computer to access special offerings from the tonybennett.com website.

As he enters his seventh decade of recording, Tony Bennett – who celebrated his 85th birthday on August 3, 2011 – looks back on countless memorable productions over the years. THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM, is a microcosm of many of those settings.

Moving ahead three decades, THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM reprises a track by Tony with the venerable backing of the Ralph Sharon Quartet, “Christmas In Herald Square” (from 1998’s The Playground).

In 2001, Tony released the critically acclaimed Sony Classical album, Our Favorite Things, a collaboration with the Ralph Sharon Quartet and an orchestra arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli. From that album come “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” and the traditional “The First Noël,” with a guest appearance by tenor virtuoso Placido Domingo.

Sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, orchestrated by Robert Farnon and conducted by Don Jackson, led to an album for Hallmark Music in 2001, Christmas With Tony Bennett. From that album come four standards, “Deck The Halls,” “O Little Town Of Bethlehem,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and “Silent Night.”

THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM comes right up to date with selections from 2008’s aptly titled A Swingin' Christmas, featuring the Count Basie Big Band: “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” “Christmas Time Is Here” (from the CBS-TV show, A Charlie Brown Christmas), “Silver Bells,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and Irving Berlin’s “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm.”

As the world acknowledges Tony Bennett’s 85th birthday, Columbia/RPM/ Legacy marks the event with Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection. This historic box set gathers his entire album catalog (on Columbia, Roulette, MGM, Improv, and Fantasy), plus the Columbia singles, outtakes and rarities, historic television specials, and more on 73 CDs and 3 DVDs. This extraordinary chronicle, containing more than a thousand individual songs, will be available exclusively at select Barnes and Noble retail locations on November 8th. BN.com and tonybennett.com will be the exclusive on-line retail sites and fans can now pre-order the collection online.

Also: September 20th marked the release of the long-awaited Duets II on Columbia/RPM, the sequel to Tony’s 2006 album, Duets, which paired him with artists ranging from Barbra Streisand and the Dixie Chicks, to Bono and Sting, Stevie Wonder and more. Duets II finds Tony in the company of celebrated artists including Aretha Franklin, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga, Queen Latifah, John Mayer, and others. The CD made history when it debuted at the #1 position on the Billboard album charts, making Bennett the oldest artist to ever have a #1 CD. Tony’s single with Amy Winehouse of “Body and Soul,” appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts again making Bennett the oldest artists to have a single on those charts. The music video of Bennett’s duet with Lady Gaga of “The Lady is a Tramp, ” was just added on the MTV Networks’ rotation.